My Friend, Annabeth
by Blay Nix
Summary: Annabeth is the new girl at school who quickly catches Percy's eye. But, does he stand a chance with her? Is she hiding something dark underneath her pretty face. No Demigods. Just normal Teens. Slight OC
1. Chapter 1

Author's note: Ok, so this is my first Percy Jackson fanfic I hope you enjoy. No demigods, no mythical creatures. Just typical highschool students. Please leave a review! :D

Love Blay

* * *

I Perseus Jackson, never thought I would be the type to fall in love. I never thought that I would meet a girl who would make my head feel like it was full of seaweed when I'm around her. She's turned my entire life completely upside down, but I can honestly say that I've never been happier.  
The day that I meet her was a day like any other. I had gotten up, and gone to school, not expecting anything life changing to happen to me that day, but it did. I was sitting in history, listening to Mr. Brunner talk about Greek Mythology, when there was a tentative knock at the door. Mr. Brunner stops mid sentence and calls out, "Come in."  
That was when my life changed forever, now, I know that it sounds cheesy, but I swear when she walked into the room, it felt like time had slowed. I mean, it seemed like she was walking in slow motion and everything. I felt my breath leave me and a sharp exhale and I hoped that nobody heard. Of course no one did because everyone's focus was turned on her.  
Of course, now would be a good time to explain her. Beautiful is the first word that popped into mind when I saw her. I mean, I'm not talking about typically teen beauty, I mean like a beauty that would make Aphrodite green with jealousy. She's tall, and has an athletic build. She has golden blonde hair that cascading in curls down her back. And she has amazing silvery-grey eyes that just radiate intelligence.  
She's standing with the counselor, Mr. D, looking around the room shyly. Mr. D looks at Mr. Brunner and says, "This is Annabeth Chase, she's new." And with that, he leaves.  
It's a great subject of mystery to the kids of our school how Mr. D out of all the people in the world, got a job as a high school counselor. I mean, he doesn't hide the fact that he despises kids in all shape, form, and fashion.  
Anyway, Annabeth is just standing awkwardly in the doorway, waiting for someone to tell her what to do. Mr. Brunner rolls over to her and sticks out his hand for her to shake. "Pleasure to meet you, Miss Chase." She smiles slightly, but doesn't say anything. He wheels back to the front, gesturing for her to follow, she does somewhat reluctantly. "You can take the seat behind Percy." He tells, pointing over at me. She doesn't say anything as she walks down the aisle towards me, I want to say something. But I'm afraid I'll just end up sounding stupid. I watch as Annabeth walks past me and takes the seat behind me. The space surrounding me is suddenly filled with a sweet, floral scent. Something delightful and intoxicating that I just can't put my finger on. I am snapped out of my reverie when I hear Mr. Brunner say my name.  
"Yes sir?" I respond.  
"Will you please show Annabeth around today?" He asks.  
My heart leaps in excitement. Of course I would. I can already see a lot of the guys in the classroom craning their necks, trying to get a better look at her. I bet they would kill for the opportunity to spend the day with her.  
"Yes sir." I say again, and he smiles and goes back to teaching.  
What he was talking about, I couldn't say. All I could focus on was Annabeth's presence behind me. I had to physically force myself not to turn around and stare at her.  
Finally, the bell signaling that first period is over rings and I get out of my seat and turn to Annabeth. I wait for her to pack her stuff up and one she's standing, I walk her to the door. I really want to start talking to her, so I ask the first question that comes to mind, "Can I see your schedule?"  
She nods and fishes in her bag for it before handing it to me. I start to read it, but I only get to fifth period before the words start floating off the page and circling around my head. I sigh and hand it back to her without bothering to read the rest of it. She takes it without saying a word and puts it back in her bag. From what I could see before my dyslexia starting acting up, we had every class together. This makes me smile.  
"So," I ask, really just wanting to get a conversation going between the two of us. "Where did you move from"  
"San Francisco." She says with kind of a dreamy look in her eyes.  
"What made you move?" I ask without thinking. Mentally kicking myself and my ADHD. I expect her to look offended and say something like is that really any of your business?, but she doesn't ,she just smiles slighting before saying. "My dad got a got job 'he just couldn't refuse.'" She says making air quotes. "So, he moved the entire family across the country." She sounds a little angry now. I frown slightly. "New York isn't that bad. You'll get used to it." I say, trying to reassure her somewhat. She doesn't answer. We just keep walking until we reach geometry, with Mrs. Dodds. An hour of pure hell if you ask me. I'd much rather take on a Fury bare-handed.  
Annabeth follows me to my seat and take the one behind me again. I try and think of something to say, but the bell rings and Mrs. Dodds starts teaching.  
I don't really focus on lesson like I know I should. Instead, I find my thoughts drifting to Annabeth behind me. Every time I try to focus, my mind just goes back to her. Eventually, I just let it stay there.  
The rest of the day passes without incident, after the final bell has rung and I'm standing with Annabeth at her locker, I say something that shocks even me. "Do you wanna hang out at my place after school?" She shuts her locker and looks at me, I'm afraid that she's going to say no, but instead she smiles the first real smile I've seen all day and says, "Sure, just let me text my dad." She then pulls out her phone and her fingers move quickly over the keypad. She slides it shut and gestures forward saying, "Lead the way."  
The walk from school to my apartment isn't too long, but as we get nearer, I begin to worry what she'll think. My mother doesn't make the most money, so the apartment isn't anything fancy. I'm wondering whether or not I remembered to put all the dishes away when Annabeth begins talking to me, "So, is there anything interesting I should know about you?" I raise my eyebrows at her, but start talking anyway. "Well, let's see, other than the fact that I'm unbelievably amazing? I have dyslexia and ADHD, I'm a single child, my mother is a single parent, I enjoy blue foods and my favorite color is green. You?" I say.  
She looks at me and says. "I also have ADHD and dyslexia, I have two step brothers, and my dad got remarried a few years back. I'm a vegan, and my favorite color is purple." She smiles at me. I can't help but smile back.  
We reach my apartment and as I slide my key into the lock and open the door for her saying "Tada." We both step inside and she looks around. I look around also and discover that I did not indeed put the dishes away. "It's not much," I say. "but its home." She turns to me, smiles, and says. "I think it's brilliant." I smile back and we make our way over the couch and sit down. "So," I propose, "What's your favorite book?" despite the dyslexia, I actually enjoy reading a lot. "Hmmm. . ." She says, "That's actually a really hard one, I would have to say that it's a tie between, The Hunger Games, Divergent, Harry Potter, Miss Peregrines Home For Peculiar Children, and The Fault In Our Stars." All of which were book I had read and really liked. I stand and gesture for her to follow me, I take her to my room and show her all the books I've accumulated over the years. There we spend hours talking about books, what we like, what we don't. what characters we liked or hated. We just talked. We moved around too, somehow, we went from the sitting on the floor, to sitting on my bed, until now, where we were laying on my bed. The air between us feels warm and electrified to me. finally, we stopped talking about books and we moved on to our families. "Where's your mom?" Annabeth asks me.  
"She doesn't get off of work until nine." I tell her. We both at the same time look at the clock and see that it's only 8:27. It feels much longer, and much shorter at the same time. "Where does she work?" She asks.  
"In a candy shop on 5th avenue." I say. She nods her head and doesn't say anything else or a few minutes.  
"What happened to your dad?" She asks me in a quiet voice. I swallow the lump in my throat that gets lodged there anytime I think about my dad. "You don't have to tell me I you don't want to." She says quickly. I smile slightly and say, "No, its fine. He, uh, went on a fishing trip one weekend and never came back. They never found him, is boat, anything." I say. Annabeth is silent for a moment before saying, "I'm so sorry Percy."  
"It's fine." I tell her. I look at her to see the reaction on her face. I suddenly have the overwhelming urge to kiss her. I lean closer without thinking and she does too. I hold my breath. I know exactly how many inches are between us.  
Six.  
I wish it was less. A number more like zero. Is it possible to like someone you've only know for less than a day? I think so. Annabeth looks like she's going to say something. But her phone goes off and she and I both jump a little. She pulls it out of her pocket and examines the screen. Her face darkens and a frown creeps onto her face. "What is it?" I ask.  
She just shakes her head and says, "Nothing." She puts her phone back into her pocket and looks back at me. A piece of her hair falls into her face and without thinking I reach over and tuck it behind her ear. She blushes slightly and says, "Thanks."  
I wonder why she blushed. I try and think of reasons why, when the next question I want to know pops into my head. I look at her and ask, "Annabeth, is there anyone special in your life?" I try and sound sarcastic and jokey about it, but I want her answer to be no. mainly because I would like to be that someone special in her life.  
To my surprise, she actually snorts and says, "Nope. No one." I feel instantly relieved.  
"Do you have someone special in your life?" she asks me back.  
"No." I tell her. But in my head I'm thinking, No, but I wish it was you.  
I notice the time I get up, Annabeth raises her eyebrows at me, "Come on, I have to cook dinner." She gets up and follows me to the kitchen.  
One of my few, and mainly useless talents was cooking.  
We stand side by side, her peeling vegetables, I washing meat off. We don't really talk, but it's a comfortable silence. After everything is in the pot and boiling, we go and sit on the couch and turn on the T.V. I hand Annabeth the remote and let her pick the channel. She flips around for a few minutes before settling on The Science Channel, it was some show about outer space. I couldn't really care less about supernovas in M18, but Annabeth was focused intently on the screen. This gave me the chance to think about the events of today. I know it may seem a bit strange, but I was really to like her. She was beautiful, easy to talk to, and she was smart.  
After a few minutes of just kind of looking at her from the corner of my eye, she looked over at me and said, "Amazing isn't? I mean, if you really think about it all. We think we're so big, yet, we play such a small role in the universe."  
I nod my head in agreement. I'm about to say something else, but then my mom walks in the door. I stand up and Annabeth follows. "Hi mom." I say, leaning into her hug her. "Hey baby. How was school?" she asks.  
"Better than usual." I say. There's no sense in lying about it.  
"That's good." My mother says.  
Now would be a good time to explain my mother. I love and trust her more than anything in the world. She's had such a hard life, but she never let it affect her. That's why I think the best people always have the worst luck.  
"Mom," I say, stepping back to reveal Annabeth who was standing behind me. "this, is Annabeth Chase."  
Annabeth steps forward and sticks out her hand for her to shake, "Pleasure to meet you Mrs. Jackson."  
My mother shakes her hand and says, "Please, call me Sally. Will you be staying for dinner?"  
Annabeth shakes her head and frowns slightly, "I would love to, but my dad just text me and said he was outside waiting for me."  
I frown a little. I don't want her to leave.  
"I'll walk you downstairs." I say.  
She smiles and grabs her bag. "It was a pleasure meeting you." She says, waving at my mom.  
"You too, honey." She replies.  
We walk out the door and down the stairs, not saying anything. Once, we get to the door she turns around and says, "Thanks for inviting me over. It was fun." I smile at her and she hugs me.  
It takes me a moment to get over the shock, but once I do I hug her back. She breaks away way too soon for my liking and says, "See you later, Percy." And then walks out the door.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's note: Ok, so. I suppose you should know that I do most of my writing at night because I have insomnia. And that leaves me with nothing else do do. So, you can expect updates almost everyday around midday. So I took, **envelope123**'s advice and I made this chapter more teen-like. Tell me what you think! Love y'all! :D

-Blay

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I spend the next three weeks with getting to know Annabeth. I learn what she likes, what she doesn't. What makes her tick, stories from her childhood. Everything. The routine is the same every day. We go through our classes together, we laugh, and we joke. I introduce her to the rest of my friends, Grover, Thalia, Juniper, Silena, Charlie, Travis, and Conner. Much to my relief, they take to Annabeth quickly. Soon we're all laughing and joking together. After school we go to my apartment and hang out together, just the two of us. Soon, my mother starts commenting on how much happier I seem now, thankfully never in front of Annabeth. It's true, I am happier now. Annabeth was like my own personal sun, she just radiates warmth, and even after she's gone I can still feel her presence.  
One Friday evening Annabeth and I were sitting on my couch watching some stupid horror movie. I didn't think it was that scary, but any time anybody would pop out Annabeth would squeak, (Which was an extremely cute sound) and would grab my arm, which I didn't mind in the slightest. The killer was about to find his victim when my phone beeped and Annabeth jumped slightly. I snickered and she hit me. It was a text from my mom saying that she was going to be held up at work and not to wait up for her. I sigh and Annabeth raises her eyebrows at me, "My mom has to work late. Again" Annabeth says, "Oh." And turns her head back to the screen, now would be a perfect opportunity to ask her.  
I would imagine that you're mildly curious as to what I want to ask her. At least once a month, my friends and I take a camping trip to Montauk. It's nothing special really. But it's a tradition. My mom started it after my dad disappeared. She stopped coming once she decided I was old enough not to get myself lost or killed. We were leaving tomorrow morning and not coming back until Sunday afternoon.  
"Hey Annabeth?" I ask taking a deep breath.  
"Yeah?" She asks, not even taking her eyes off the screen.  
"Would you wanna go camping with me and the rest of the group this weekend?"  
"You really want me to come?" She asks.  
"Of course." I say, laughing a little a bit.  
"I would love to, I just don't know about my dad. . ."  
"I can get my mom to talk to him if you think it would help." I suggest.  
"That just might work." She says, breaking into a breath taking smile.  
My heart rate picks up instantly. God she was so beautiful when she smiled. I just keep looking at her. I know that I've been looking at her too long, but then again, so has she. Her phone goes off, ruining the moment and she shakes her head a little, almost like she was trying to shake something off. She checks her phone and frowns slightly.  
"Damn, he's here earlier than he said he would be."  
I frown too. I'm happiest during my afternoons with Annabeth. I like being able to spend as much time as possible with her. She stands up and looks around the dark living room for her bag, I stand up too and stretch a little, I see her bag at the same time she does, we reach for it at the same time and our hands touch, just for a second. But it feels like someone has sent an electric shock through my body. I snap my hand back and she does the same. Does that mean she felt the same thing? She smiles a little and reaches for her bag again. She slings it over her shoulder and we walk together out of the apartment like we always do. She hugs me, like she always does before walking out the buildings doors.  
"See you later." She calls over her shoulder at me.  
I smile and wave at her. Once she's out the door I head back upstairs. I think about the hug. It's my favorite and least favorite part about our afternoons together. I like it because of the obvious reasons. But another part of me resents them slightly. That part of me always wishes for the hugs to go further. I wonder if I will ever get the chance. Maybe if she comes camping with us this weekend. . . I wonder about this as I walk back up the stairs to my apartment.  
I get back, take a shower, and then climb into bed. I'm just about to drift off when my phone goes off. I contemplate just checking it in the morning, but decide to check it anyways. It's a message from Annabeth, it reads:  
I canNOT believe I got my dad to say yes! I'll see you tomorrow! :)  
I reply with: Sweet! Be at my apartment. 8 sharp! :D  
I set my phone back on my night stand and drift off to sleep.

* * *

I wake up at seven the next morning and see that I have a text from Grover. It says:  
Bringing the van. See you at 8.  
I send a quick reply and start packing. I typically do this the night before. But I forgot to with Annabeth over. I grab my duffel bag and start stuffing it with a few pairs of shorts and a couple of tee-shirts. I throw my swim shorts into it and look around, trying to remember what else I need. I spot my toothbrush, toothpaste, and deodorant and throw those in the bag with the rest of my clothes, I spot my iPod and speaker and throw that in there too. Finally I grab my phone charger, some bug spray, and a random book off my shelf. I'm ready to go. I walk into the living room and smell pancakes I smile and walk into the kitchen. I see a plate of blue pancakes, and I find a note from my mother saying that she had to go into work early and that she hoped I had fun on my trip. I felt a little sad. My mother had to work all the time just to support the both of us. Further proving my theory that the best people had the worst luck.  
I pick up a pancake and take a bite out of it. It tastes amazing. I make my way over to the couch and turn on the T.V. not really focusing on what was on. There's a knock on my door and I look at my cell screen. It's only 7:45. I get up and walk to the door. I open it and smile when I see who it is.  
"You're early." I tell her.  
"To be on time is to be late and to be early is to be on time." She quotes.  
I smile and she walks in. I walk back over to the couch and I sit down again.  
"So," I ask, turning towards her once she takes a seat next to me. "how the hell did you manage to get your dad to let you come with us?"  
She smiles and simply says, "When there's a will, there's a way?"  
"How long are you on kitchen duty for?"  
"A month." She replies with a smile. "But it is SO worth it."  
"It will be." I say.  
We watch T.V. for the next few minutes, waiting for Grover to get here. Finally we hear a horn and I turn to her and smile. I reach for the remote and turn the T.V. off.  
"You ready?" I ask her.  
"You bet." She says.  
We walk downstairs and I can feel a bubble of nervous excitement forming in the pit of my stomach.  
I see Grover grinning in the front seat of his mom's minivan. I see Thalia, Silena, and Charlie sitting in the back row and Juniper in the passenger seat. They're all grinning and ready to go.  
Grover pops the trunk so Annabeth and I can put our stuff in the back. Once we've done that, we open the van door and climb into the middle row. Grover turns around and looks at Annabeth and says, "Well isn't this a pleasant surprise." Annabeth blushes slightly and Grover laughs. And turns further around to look at all of us. "Are you all ready for the best weekend of your entire lives?" We all yell and scream and clap and Grover yells, "Yeah baby!" and just like that, we're off. It's about a two hour drive. But it's never boring. Grover has some sort of alternative rock station. We're all talking about our plans for tonight, which include a bonfire, as usual. Travis and Connor will be meeting us there.  
"You know," Annabeth says, turning to talk to me. "this is the first time I've ever done this."  
"What, camping?" I ask.  
"No." she says. "Go somewhere with friends."  
I don't know what to say to that. What can I say? I suddenly realize something. That in all the afternoons we had spent together over the past couple of weeks she never once spoke about friends from home. Surely she had some other friends back home. I mean, she's such an amazing person. I turn to her and say, "Well, you are now." And she smiles in return.  
We drive for about another hour until we arrive. As soon as the beach comes into view we all break out into cheers and applause. We clamber out of the van and start to unload everything. But I just stand there for a moment and let the smell of wet sand and saltwater seep into to me. I think about my dad. His warm smile but rebellious looks. God I missed him. I wish everyday that I could know what happened to him. I just want some closure. Just to at least know what happened to him so I can move on, start healing, because deep down, I have a hope that he's still alive, that he's lost and he doesn't know where to find us, or that he got amnesia or something and couldn't remember who he was, or who we were. I send out a silent prayer for him, hoping that wherever he is, he's safe.  
After I have my moment, I walk over to the van to get my bag. We take turns bringing everything. It was Thalia's turn to bring the tents, and the Stoll brothers turn to get the food. We start to set everything up on the beach, it takes a few hours, mainly because we're all goofing off, throwing sand and pebbles at each other.  
It's midday before the two tents are constructed. The Stoll brothers are nowhere to be seen. It's getting kind of hot so Thalia suggests we go swimming. We all agree and go into the tents to change. I come out of my tent the same time Annabeth comes out of hers. She's wearing a purple bikini top and a pair of denim short-shorts. She smiles at me and I smile back.  
"I'll race you to the water." I say.  
She doesn't respond, she just takes off running towards the water. I smile and run after her. Now, one of my favorite things is running. I, don't mean like when they force you to run in P.E. I'm talking about just running at a flat out sprint, just for the hell of it. One of the best feelings in the world is your heart hammering in your chest and your legs flying beneath you.  
Even though she got a head start by cheating. I still brat her to the water, I dive in and feel instantly refreshed. I always feel better in the water. Safer. Stronger. I swim around for a few seconds before I spot Annabeth's legs, I get an idea. I swim over silently and bump into her leg. She jump and I snicker, return to the surface behind her, she whips around and glares out me. I hold up my hands and she sticks her tongue out at me and dive under water. I'm about to follow her when Grover dives in and swims toward me. He stands up next to me and says, "Are you ready to party?" He's grinning so big I can't help but smile too.  
"Totally man." I tell him.  
The rest of the afternoon is spent just chilling, going in and out of the water. The Stoll Brothers show up around three with a few boxes of God only knows what. Around sunset we start getting all the wood together for the bonfire. Annabeth and I are in the woods hunting down kindling and sticks when I ask her if she's having fun. Her face breaks into that breath taking smile I love so much and she nods her head excitedly. "It's been great. Thanks for inviting me Percy."  
I smile at her. "It was no problem."  
We finish gathering the wood and bring it all back to camp. Once we get back we can see that everyone else has collected larger logs and they're already in teepee formation. Annabeth and I hand our sticks over to Travis and he begins expertly adding them to the pile. I go and sit on the driftwood bench that surrounds the bonfire pit. I gesture for Annabeth to come and sit next to me. We sit in silence, just watching Travis getting the fire started. Grover comes and sits next to me.  
"Travis man, when is that fire gonna be ready? I'm starving." Grover asks.  
Now that I think about it, I'm pretty hungry too, I haven't eaten anything since the pancakes this morning. Everybody else nods there head in agreement.  
"Right, about, now" Travis says as he steps back, suddenly, the whole teepee has gone up in flames. Everybody cheers. Conner gets up and fishes in one of the boxes he brought, he starts handing out bags of marshmallows, chocolate, and sleeves of graham crackers. He hand everyone a skewer and we all start roasting marshmallows and making s'mores. I get up and go to my bag to get my iPod and speaker out. I walk back, plug it in, and set it to shuffle. An upbeat My Chemical Romance song comes on and Juniper stands up and faces him, she sticks out her hand dramatically and says, "Dance with me goat boy."  
You would understand the nickname if you've ever seen Grover eat.  
He stands up, takes her hand and begins to spin her around the sand.  
Next, Charlie gets up and offers his hand to Silena, she takes it and they're dancing too.  
Both of the Stoll brothers offer their hands to Thalia at the same time, so she takes them both and they start dancing as well.  
Soon it's only me and Annabeth, so I do the only thing I can think of, I offer her my hand and she takes it with a smile. I pull her up and we start to dance as well, another one of my few, mainly useless talents was dancing. But it seemed to finally be coming in handy.  
We all danced and sang along with the song.  
I spun Annabeth around and she let out a peel of laughter.  
My heart jumped and I smiled before I could stop myself.  
She didn't seem to notice, she just keep on smiling and dancing with me. God, she was beautiful. Her eyes alight with laughter her gold hair shimmering in the fire light.  
The song ended and everyone broke apart laughing. Travis walks back over to the box and digs something out. A bottle of vodka. How he managed to get it, I couldn't tell you. But soon we were all sitting around the fire, drinking and joking. Around my third cup of Coke and vodka, I started to feel a little light-headed and fuzzy, so I decided to slow down. Soon the bottle of vodka was gone and everyone was drunk. Even Annabeth, which shocked me a little.  
"Oh! Oh! I have an idea, let's play a game." Thalia suggest, somewhat sluggishly.  
"Like what?" Grover asks.  
"Oh, I don't know, how about truth or dare, or spin the bottle." She suggest .  
Everyone nods their heads and Grover says, "Ok Thalia, you first."  
"Hmmm. . ." She says looking around our little circle, looking for her victim. Her eyes land and Travis and she says, "Travis, truth, or dare?"  
He thinks about this for a moment before saying, "Dare."  
Thalia smiles and says, "I dare you to take your shirt off."  
Now, to anyone not in our group, this would seem like a rather simple dare, but everyone but Thalia and Travis know that they like each other. We all have a running bet going to see when they'll start going out.  
Travis grins and begins to take his shirt off slowly, making a show of it, before he slips it above his head he winks at Thalia. Once it's off he spins it around like a lasso and throws it at her. She catches it with her teeth and everyone dies laughing. Once the laughter dies down, we're one to the next person. It's Charlie's turn, then Grover's, then Silena's. she looks around the group before her eyes land on Annabeth, "Annabeth Chase!" she yells in a dramatic voice, "Truth, or dare?"  
Annabeth considers this for a moment before saying. "Dare."  
Silena gets a wicked gleam in her eyes. "I dare you to kiss someone in this group."  
Everyone 'ooh's' and Annabeth, without hesitation might I add, turns to me, smiles and kisses me full on the mouth. Even intoxicated, Annabeth is an amazing kisser. Her lips are softer then I imagined, she's gentle with it at first, but then she settles into it. It feels like electricity is coursing through my body. I can't register anything other than the pressure of her lips on mine. Deep down I realize that we've been kissing for too long. But I don't care. I hear catcalls and wolf-whistles. But I don't care. When I feel the tip of her tongue at my bottom lip, something hits me, it's a red Solo up. Thrown by one of my so called friends.  
We're forced to break apart. Annabeth hiccups and giggles. The rest of the game goes on. When it's may turn, I dare Grover to jump in the water wearing only one of the girls bra and panties. He gets up, walks into the tent and comes out wearing a matching leopard print set. Everyone claps and whistles as he takes off running for the water. Despite all the fun, I still have the kiss on the back of my mind, did it mean anything to Annabeth? Or did she just pick me because everyone else was a couple? The game goes on and when it's Annabeth's turn she asks me truth , or dare and I say truth. She thinks for a moment before asking me, "Do you like someone?"  
Damn. I pride myself on being a pretty honest person so I say, "Yes." The rest of the game people try and get me to tell my crush, needless to say, I do not. Finally, around three or four in the morning people decide that it's time to go to bed. Annabeth, Grover, Juniper, Conner, and I have one tent, while Silena, Charlie, Thalia, and Travis have the other. We all climb into to our assigned tents and everyone calls out goodnight to each other. Approximately three seconds after Grover gets settled in his bag, he starts to snore. I try to do the same. Although I'm exhausted, I can't sleep. I keep replaying the kiss over and over and over again in my head. The logical side of my brain keeps telling me that she kissed me because she was drunk, the other side, and my hopeful side tells me it's because she might like me. I don't know how long I've been laying there thinking when Annabeth says, "Percy, are you still awake?"  
"Yes." I say.  
"Do you want to go on a walk?" She asks me.  
I agree and we try to leave everyone undisturbed as we get out. We start walking towards the beach in silence. We automatically go to the pier, walk to the edge and sit down with our feet dangling over. The sun was rising now. We just sat there in silence as we watched it climb up the night sky. She lets out a yawn and leans her head on my shoulder.  
"This has been amazing." She says.  
Tell me about it. I think in my head. "It's because I'm here." I say in a pompous voice.  
"Oh yeah, totally." She responds, laughing.  
We just sit there as we watch the sun make it's decent over the water. We're not talking, but it's not an awkward silence, it's just one of those awed silence.  
"Percy?" she asks again.  
"Hm. . . ?" I respond.  
"About that kiss earlier tonight. . ." She says, trailing off.  
My heart sinks a little. Maybe it was because she was drunk and didn't want to hurt Silena or Thalia or Juniper.  
"It's fine." I say with a light laugh, even though my heart now feels heavy. "You didn't want to hurt all the other girls by kissing their men." I say the last word in a funny voice. She laughs. "Plus," I add on, "you were kinda drunk."  
She looks at me with incredulous eyes, "I did not have that much to drink." She protest.  
"Oh, I know." I say "You're just a lightweight." I push her shoulder and she tips over a little bit. "See what I mean?"  
She just sticks her tongue out at me and we continue to watch the sky.

* * *

The rest of the weekend goes fine. We don't have any more late-night drinking parties. But, we do have games of midnight hid-n-seek. Which if I must say so myself, I am an expert at. Sunday evening rolls around and we pack up the van and head home. I'm never really all that sad. I know we'll be back. And from now on, Annabeth will be too. Or, at least. I hope she will be.  
We're back in the city by seven, and at my house by 7:30. When I walk in the door my mom hugs me then Annabeth, asking how it was. We told her about all out antics, but we both left out the drunken kiss. Around eight, Annabeth gets a text from her dad saying that he's outside waiting for her. I walk her through the building and to the doors like I always do. She hugs me like she always does, but this time she kisses me on the cheek before running out the door. I smile and walk back up the stairs.


	3. Chapter 3

Author's note: Hello lovely readers! Just a quick note, school has started for me so updates may just become a weekly thing, like on Saturdays, because I'm a part of marching band and I have football games every Friday and practice everyday after school. Thank you for reading and junk. I'm thinking about renaming the story, leave in a review if you have a suggest. Happy reading.

-Blay

* * *

Our little party went down in group history as the best yet. I would have to agree. Annabeth made it one of the best weekends of my life. We talk about the party for days after it happened. We're already planning the next trip. Other than that, the days all blend together as the weeks press on. I start spending a lot more time with Annabeth. We hang out every afternoon and most weekends, soon she's my best friend and we know everything about each other. I've never been happier. I love spending time with her as a friend, but part of me always wants it to go farther, for us to be more than friends. Annabeth never brings up the kiss, but I think about it often. I wonder if I'll ever get the opportunity to kiss her again. I'm pretty sure that I'm falling in love her. A thought that's terrifying and gratifying at the same the time. It's hard for someone to not fall in love with her. I want to try and make a move, but I don't want to ruin the friendship with her. How can I ask her if she likes me without asking directly? This was all just so damn complicated.  
Much to my disliking, almost all the guys in school have taken notice to her; they're all flirting with her. It makes me mad. One day while we're hanging out after school she turns to me and says, "Guess who asked me out at school today."  
My stomach instantly drops. "Who?" I ask trying to sound upbeat and happy for her.  
"I told you too guess." She says, poking my arm.  
"Grover?" I ask, secretly hoping it is, and he did it as a joke.  
"Ew. No. It was Luke Castellan." She says, smiling.  
Luke Castellan was a tall, lean, popular, very attractive senior, almost all the girls at school were in love with him. Now I'll never stand a chance.  
"What did you say?" I ask, trying to sound excited.  
"I said yes. We're going to a movie this weekend." She says smiling.  
My heart breaks.  
I force a smile and say, "That's great."  
She turns her head back to the T.V. I let the smile slide off my face. Every inch of my being wants to hunt Luke down and beat the absolute shit out of him. It should be me taking Annabeth out on that date. Not Luke.  
Her phone beeps, she pulls it out of her pocket, looks at it, and laughs. I raise my eyebrows at her. "Luke." She says.  
"Oh." Is my brilliant response.  
I can feel anger bubbling up in my chest. I want it to be me making her laugh. I want to be the one bringing joy into her life. I want her to mine, not Luke's. From what Annabeth's told me, she's been asked out by several of the boys at our school already, but she's said no to all of them, what's made her say yes? Ok, so Luke's like this incredibly good looking popular kid. I get that much, but I didn't think that Annabeth was into that type of guy. You know, shallow and conceited.  
"So," she says, distracting me from my thoughts, "what are you getting me for my birthday?" that's right. Her birthday was next month. I still hadn't found anything to get her. I didn't even know what to get her.  
"It's a surprise." I say.  
"Tell me." she says in a slightly whiney voice.  
"Never. It would ruin it." I say. It probably would as soon as I find out what it it is.  
She sticks out at me and turns away mumbling about me being no fun. Her phone goes off again and she looks at it. She types a quick reply and then stands up saying, "That was my dad. He's here to pick me up. I have a doctor's appointment." Right, I forgot about that.  
I get up and walk her downstairs like I always do, she hugs me like she always does and heads out the door. I stand in the lobby for moment thinking. I really don't want to stay in the apartment. I feel jittery. My ADHD doesn't like it when I sit still for too long. I need to go out and so something. So I decide to go on a walk. I run back up stairs and grab my wallet and iPod and run back downstairs and out the door.  
I walk a few blocks before I plug my iPod in. It's set on shuffle and the song Lucky Strike by Maroon 5 comes on. This just makes me think of Annabeth. I hit next and the song If Looks Could Kill by A Day To Remember Comes on. Much more my speed for right now.  
I walk around aimlessly for a little while. I don't think it's possible for anyone who lives in Manhattan to get bored. There's always something to do.  
After a while, I start looking into shop windows, I pass by a tiny jewelry shop and something catches my eye. It's a necklace. It was a little silver owl with blue jewel eyes. Suddenly I remember Annabeth telling me that her favorite animal was the owl. It would be the perfect birthday present. I walk into the shop and look around a little bit more. There's no one else in the shop. I don't even see someone at the counter. Then, there's a tap on my shoulder, I turn around and take my ear buds.  
It's an old woman. "Can I help you dear?" she asks.  
"Uh, yes." I say. "How much does the necklace in the window cost? The one with the owl."  
"Oh yes." She says with a smile. "The owl is made out of silver and has ½ karat for the eyes. They're sapphire you know?" She says, walking over to the window and removing the necklace from the display.

When she said 'sapphire', all my hopes for getting it for Annabeth flew out the window. There would be no way I could afford that.  
"This piece is 299$ without tax." Yeah, make that no way in hell I could afford that.  
"It this for anyone special?" The old woman asks.  
"Uh, yeah. My friend Annabeth." I hesitate on the word friend and her eyes grow wide.  
"Oh, young love!" She exclaims, a smile creeping onto her wrinkled face.  
"Yeah. It's just a little out of my price range, do you have anything for under a hundred?" I ask.  
The old woman's face darkens. "Nonsense. I saw the look on your face; this is perfect for your friend."  
She is right. But it's not like I have the money to pay for it.  
Almost as if though reading my mind she says, "I know a way you can get this." She has a misty look in her eyes.  
"Ma'am?" I ask, slightly confused.  
"Would you be willing to work for it?" She asks me.  
"In the shop?" I ask.  
"Of course!" she replies. "Anything for young love."  
"I don't really know anything about jewelry ma'am." I tell her.  
"That's fine." She says. "It's nothing fancy. Do you want the job?"  
I'm flabbergasted. "Of course." I say.  
"Splendid!" She exclaims. "I'm Aphrodite. But most people these days just call me Dittie."  
"Percy." I say sticking my hand for her to shake.  
We spend the next few minutes talking about when I would start. After everything is settled, I leave. Not being able to believe my luck. I had found the perfect present for Annabeth, and I got a job.  
I feel my phone vibrate and I pull it out and look at the screen, it's a text from Annabeth: SO nervous about Friday! Would you come over to help me get ready? :c  
As if I would want to help her get ready for a date with another guy. I reply with: Of course. Be there at 6.  
I'm pretty sure I just put myself in the friend zone.

As Friday approaches, I'm not sure who's more nervous, Annabeth, or me.  
I've heard some pretty rough stuff about Luke, of course, his whoring around just makes him unbelievably popular, I swear, if he tries anything with Annabeth, I will kill him. Sadly, Annabeth's the type of girl other girls just presume is a slut. I guess it's just because of her looks. When in all actuality, I was only the second guy she'd ever kissed. And she told me that she's never had a real kiss. When she said that I asked her, "What's your definition of a 'real' kiss then?"  
"Oh you know." She responded. "Magical. Sparks flying. Something like a scene from a romance novel."  
"As long as it's not 50 Shades of Gray." I said, laughing.  
"Ew. Defiantly not." She responds.

I made myself a promise that day, that I would be the guy to give her, her first real kiss.

Friday finally rolls around and Annabeth is a ball of nerves. I am too for that matter. I arrive at her apartment at six, and she takes me to her room. Typically it's really clean, but today it's strewn with clothes. Rejected outfits.  
"Thank God you're here. I need serious help." She says.  
"With what?" I ask.  
"My outfit. Duh." She says as if though it's obvious.  
"Annabeth, you realize that I am neither female nor a gay fashonista right?"  
"I know." She says. "But Grover was unavailable."  
"Ouch." I say laughing.  
"Please help me." She pleads, making her gray eyes all wide and puppy-like.  
"Fine. I'll help." I say.  
She smiles. "Ok. I'll be back in a minute." She grabs an outfit off her bed and goes into her bathroom.  
A few minutes later she comes out and spins around, "What do you think?"  
She's wearing a pair of dark-wash skinny jeans and a light green button down.  
"Gorgeous." I tell her. She would look amazing in dish rags.  
She walks over to a floor length mirror and examines herself. "Are you sure?" she asks, looking over at me.  
"Yes. You look beautiful as always."  
"Thanks. I'm sorry I'm just so nervous." She says.  
"I'm sure Luke is too. Anybody lucky enough to get a date with you should be freaking out."  
"What about this shirt?" She says, holding up a tiny sparkly thing.  
"That depends." I say. "I didn't take you for the hooker type"  
She rolls her eyes, but puts the shirt down.  
"You look fine Annabeth." I tell her.  
I hear a knock at the door downstairs and her eyes get all wide. "Oh God, I bet that's him. How's my hair? My makeup?" She doesn't wait for me to respond, she just runs over to look in the mirror.  
"Annabeth, you look beautiful. Stop worrying." I tell her. It's true, she looks gorgeous, the only catch it she's dressing up for another boy.  
"Thank you Percy." She says smiling. She gives me a hug and Luke knocks on the door again.  
"See." I say. "Look how eager he is."  
I would be too if it was me.  
We walk to the door together and she pulls it open, "Hey Luke." She says kind of breathless.  
"Sup." Was his oh so brilliant response. God he was an ass. He doesn't even acknowledge me.  
"You ready?" He asks her.  
No, I think. She's just going to wait until you get here to get started.  
"Yeah. I'm ready." She says.  
"Let's go then." He tells her.  
She turns to me. "I'll text you later."  
"Ok. Bye. Have fun." I tell her.  
She walks out the door Luke puts her arm around her. I suddenly feel the need to punch something. I walk off in the opposite direction from them and try and calm down. I feel angry and sad and disappointed all at the same time. I walk home in a trance like state; just thinking about how that should be me, and not Luke. I get home and try and do something to take my mind off of Annabeth on that date with Luke. I turn on the T.V. and it's on National Geographic, which of course makes me think of Annabeth. I shut the T.V. off and go into my room. I walk over to my book shelf and pick a random book of the shelf. I plop on my bed an open the book to the first page. It's takes about three sentences for me to realize what book it is. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. A hard book that requires a lot of focus. I try and focus on the words, but they just keep floating off the page and my mind just keeps going back to Annabeth. Eventually I just get so frustrated that I throw the book across the room. I feel jittery; I know I can't sit still. I do the same thing I did once I found out that Annabeth was going on this stupid date, I get my iPod. Put on the angriest song I have, and leave. I just walk around forever.  
All around me I see couples. Hold hands. Hugging. Kissing. It just makes me long for Annabeth. I never really understood why guys always got so obsessed with their girlfriends. I totally get it know. When you meet the right girl, or at least the person you think is right, you want to spend as much time as possible with them. Whenever I'm with Annabeth I feel at peace. I feel like my universe is complete. A song comes on my iPod and as the lyrics play, I can suddenly relate to them.  
I really wanna love some body; I really wanna dance the night away. I know we're only halfway there, but you take me all the way. I really wanna touch somebody, I think about you every single day. I know we're only halfway there, but you take me all the way.  
It makes me think of Annabeth. It's so true. I wish everyday that I was with her.  
It takes me hours to get back home. By the time I do, my mom is back from work. She has dinner on the table. I go and sit down without a word. She doesn't say anything. She can just tell that I need to be by myself right now. I eat fast and once I'm done I thank her and go into my room.  
I'm lying on my bed, trying not to think of Annabeth when she texts me. her message says, The date went great! Tell you the deets tomorrow. Night.  
I slam my phone shut and try to go to sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

Author's note: Ok, so I'm sorry it took me so long to update. Put, it's hear now. I'm planning on adding chapter five tomorrow. I would also like to say that I'm sorry if this chapter isn't very good. I'm writing with a head injury. Details if you wanna know. But, here's your chapter. Love y'all! :D

-Blay

* * *

Of course, her date was amazing; Luke was so sweet, blah, blah, blah. Gag me with a rusty spoon. I listen to her talk about it over and over again. I try and be happy for her, but I feel so angry on the inside that it's hard.  
Over the course of the next few weeks he takes her out a lot. Every time they go on another date I just feel that much bitterer on the inside. The only thing that can take my mind off the entire situation is work. As it would turn out, it's a lot easier than I thought it would be. I just stand at a counter and talk to people. I get to hear some pretty interesting stories about the person the jewelry is for. People come in all the time for anniversaries, birthdays, and my favorite, the people who come in just buy the person they love something special, no real reason, just to day that they love them. Dittie is the one who does all the real work. For an old woman, she sure does move around a lot. Plus, she said that once I got Annabeth's necklace paid off I could start getting a check, which I'm not going to complain about.  
I don't have much left on it, just a couple more hours and it's mine. I feel exited just thinking about giving it to her. Maybe then she'll realize that I'm way better than, douche bag Luke.  
Several weeks before her birthday we have an actual conversation about him.  
She was sitting on my bed in my room messing with a bracelet on her wrist. I hadn't seen it before so I asked her, "Where did you get it?"  
"By 'it', do you mean herpes?" She asks looking me in the eye and then bursting out and laughter, after my heart started beating again I joined in.  
"No, I mean the bracelet." I say nodding my head towards it.  
"Oh, This? Luke gave it to me."  
I look at it more closely. It's just a thin gold chain.  
"I thought you hated gold?" I ask her, remembering from one of our many conversations.  
"Yeah, well, it's not polite to turn down a gift, especially an expensive one."  
One of the things Luke can offer that I can't, expensive trinkets. I have to save for a while in advance if I want to get her anything really nice.  
"Did he not ask what kind of jewelry you liked before hand?" I ask.  
"No, but it's the thought that counts." She says.  
I actually have to restrain myself from scoffing.  
"Yeah, I guess it does." I tell her. "Why did he give it to you anyways?"  
"He gave it to me today, when he asked me to be his girlfriend."  
My mind instantly erupts.  
GIRLFRIEND?! HIS GIRLFRIEND?!  
I tell myself to calm down; I really need to calm down. I can't let anything show on my face, but holy shit. I've just lost every fucking chance I've ever considered having with Annabeth. Now that she's with this ass-hat. I'm doomed to be stuck in the friend zone forever, helping her shop and get ready for dates with ass-hat Luke.  
"That's great Annabeth." I manage to choke out. But it's not great; it's the exact opposite of great. Can your heart actually break? I mean like split in two right down the middle because I feel like that's what mine's doing.  
"I know right?" She exclaims. She then launches into a rather lengthy speech about how sweet Luke, how nice and how his hair makes his eyes pop out.  
I really wish that she would just stop.  
She's interrupted midsentence by her phone going off. She pulls it out and checks it, "It's Luke, and we're going to dinner. I'll see you later Percy. Love you." She says running out my front door before I can say anything.  
"Love you too. . ." I call out halfheartedly.  
After Annabeth leaves, I head to work. I need to do something to get my mind off the current situation. Once I get there, Dittie gives me a stack of papers to file. While I'm filing, my mind just keeps going back to Annabeth and that stupid bracelet that she doesn't even like. I mean, yeah, I get it. It's Luke's way of saying, 'Look, I'm pompous and important and can afford to spend a shit ton of money on a bracelet just to ask somebody out with'  
Typically, I'm a very non-violent person. But something about this asshole just gives me the overwhelming urge to punch him in the face, and I'm not sure if I hate him because he's dating the girl I love, or because the bad vibe and the rumors I've heard about him are true.  
After a while, Dittie comes in, smiling. I look up and wait for her to speak.  
"Lock up for me, will you?" She then sets a small blue box on the desk and leaves. This wasn't abnormal behavior for her, sometimes she talks, and sometimes she doesn't. I finish the filing, (which is always my least favorite part of work, too much concentration involved). After everything is done I reach over for the box and open it.  
Finally, after all the hours I spent here, the necklace is mine to give.  
I smile and slip it into my pocket. Annabeth's birthday is two weeks from this Saturday. I'll give it to her the night before. I have something special planned.  
In the weeks before her birthday, she and Luke get pretty serious. They go out like three times a week, and she stops hanging out with all of the gang as often, even they notice it. One day, at lunch, Thalia points this out to Silena. Annabeth was sitting across the cafeteria with Luke and his cronies.  
"Of course she's going to ignore us, she's in that puppy love stage of the relationship."  
I tense up a little at the word 'love'.  
Grover nudges me sympathetically. He's then only one in the group who knows how I fell about Annabeth.  
Then everyone goes into a conversation about their first loves and I zone out.  
Of course, noting ever works out as planned, the day before her birthday, while we're in AP English, Annabeth passes me a note. It reads, 'Luke said he had something really special planned for tonight. SO excited!'  
I turn around and force a smile for her. I write back, 'Do you know where you're going? I pass the note back to her over my shoulder. I hear her open it and the sound of her pen scribbling over the page. A moment after the sound stops, I feel her tapping the piece of paper against my back and I grab it. It says, 'No. but I'll let you know as soon as I do.' I write, 'Ok.' And pass it back to her.  
We go to the rest of our classes and she doesn't bring up her 'special date' with Luke. After school, instead of her meeting me at my locker like she usually does, (the only non Luke orientated thing she does anymore might I add.) I see her down the hall, standing hand in hand with Luke, talking to a bunch of his jock friends. I have a sinking feeling in my stomach. I feel like I've lost her. I've lost my best friend.  
I don't even wait for her to tell me anything after school, I just go home alone, which I have been more and more often now lately. I walk in the door and throw all my stuff down an walk into my room, I try and find something to do, I need to take my mind off the whole Annabeth thing or I might just go insane. I get on my computer, but I can't think of anything that will take my mind off of her, so I snap it shut and get a book off my shelf and flip open to a random page, I don't even get halfway through the first sentence before the words start to float off the page and around my head. I get mad and throw the book across the room and grab my iPod out of my bag it in, I set it on shuffle and a song comes on. Too Close by Alex Clare. I try and focus on the lyrics, but as I listen to them I just get mad and stomp out of my room. I grab my backpack and run out of the apartment. I don't know where I'm going. I just walk. Something I end having to do a lot of lately. I spend hours walking. Days. Decades. Eternity is what I fells like. My phone buzzes and I pull it out of m pocket and check it, I have two texts, one from my mother, saying that she was going out to eat with some friends and she would be back late.  
At least someone's happy. I think.  
And the other one is from Annabeth. It says that she's at a really fancy restaurant; she should be done in a few minutes. I look at my watch. It's nearly twelve. The restaurant isn't too far from here, so on a whim I decide to walk to it. I'm not entirely sure what I'll do when I get there, all I know it that I'm going.  
As I begin to walk to the restaurant I get nervous, I have no idea what I'm going to do or why I'm going. I hear thunder over head and begin to walk faster.  
Once I get there, it begins to sprinkle. I walk around to the back door, just so I don't have to stand still. It's beginning to rain heavier. Once I get there I hear voices. I instinctively hide behind the side of the building and listen.  
"I don't trust you being with that little dick-head all the time Annabeth."  
I blood instantly turns to ice. It's Luke and Annabeth.  
"Don't call him that." She says defensively. "And why don't you trust him?"  
"Don't tell what I can and cannot say you little bitch. And I don't trust him. I see how you look at him. I don't trust you or him."  
It takes every ounce of strength I have to not knock in his stupid overly white teeth.  
"He's my best friend." She says quietly.  
I realize that they're talking about me. Why would they be talking about me?  
"I don't care if he's your damn cousin. I don't want you whoring around with him." He says.  
"I'm not a whore." She says quietly.  
"Well that's news to me." He says.  
I want so badly to walk over there and beat the living shit out of him. I'm gripping the wall so hard my knuckles have turned white.  
"I am not a whore." She says again.  
"I don't give a shit what you are. Other than mine. I don't want you around that dumbass Jackson kid. Do you understand me?"  
She stays silent.  
"Do you understand me?" He asks her again, this time very quietly. I have to strain to listen because the rain is coming down so hard.  
"Percy is not a dumbass." She says finally.  
"That wasn't answering my question. I think this date is over. You can find your own way home right? Maybe call up your dumbass friend. Bitch." He says.  
I can't hold my temper anymore. I come out from hiding and see Annabeth, with her back turned to me, watching Luke's retreating figure. He rounds a corner, leaving Annabeth standing in the rain in the middle of the night. I want to hunt him down right now and beat every ounce of life out of him.  
I hear a small sob and my heart breaks. It's Annabeth. I walk up quietly behind and touch her shoulder. She whips around and her eyes get wide.  
"Percy?" She says quietly.  
I want to comfort her, to take her into my arms and never let go, to kiss away her tears and make her mine. But no, instead I just look at her.  
"What the hell was that" I ask before I can stop myself.  
"What?" She asks, wiping raindrops out of her eyes.  
"Luke." Is all I say.  
Her eyes get wide again.  
"Were you spying on me?" She asks in an angry voice.  
I ignore the question. "Why the hell are you with that asshole?" I ask.  
"Oh my God. I can't believe that you were spying on me!" She in turn ignores my question.  
I feel insurmountable anger bubbling up in my chest.  
"Why do you let him treat you like that?" I ask.  
She whips around and the anger in her eyes is impressive.  
"Why does it even matter to you Percy?" She yells at me. She has to yell because the rain is coming down so hard.  
"Why does it matter to me?" I ask. Finally, I just can't hold it back anymore. Months worth of words come pouring out of my mouth.  
"It matters because I'm in love with you Annabeth! I've been in love with you from the very first day I saw you! Every time I see you I wish you were mine, not his! It matters because I love you! Ok? I'm in love with you."  
I cannot believe I just said that.  
She doesn't say anything to me. She just stares at me, wide eyed.  
God, I've fucked everything up now. But since I've started the shit storm, I might as well continue with it.  
So I walk over to her and I kiss her. I mean like full out kiss her. Like that night on the beach. My heart rate picks up and my stomach churns. I break away and I reach into my pocket and pull out her present. "Happy Birthday." I say, placing the box in her hand. I kiss her forehead. Then turn on my heel and run.  
I really just needed to run. As I turn the corner I hear Annabeth calling my name. But I just keep on going.


	5. Chapter 5

Author's Note: Ok, so here's the chapter that you've all been waiting for. I hope that you all like it, please remember to leave a review. They make me want to write more (hint hint). Anyways, hope you like it! Happy reading. Love y'all!

-Blay

* * *

I make it home in record time. I burst in the door, slam it shut, and sink to the floor. I don't know whether to punch something, or cry. Or both.  
Why didn't I just keep my mouth shut? Or why did I have to be such a dumbass and run away. I've ruined our friendship. I'll be lucky if she even looks at me after all of this, let alone talk to me. I've screwed up so bad, I don't know if I'll be able to fix it.  
There's a knock on my door. I get up slowly and walk over to it, I open the door and I'm stunned to see Annabeth standing there, dripping wet. I just stand there dumbfounded; I'm at a loss for words.  
Finally I'm able to say something, "Annabeth, I. . ." But that's all I have time to say, because Annabeth interrupts me by kissing me. I man full out kissing me. She throws her arms around my necks and crushes her mouth to mine. I'm stunned for a moment but then I react. I wrap my arms around her waist and kiss her back. It's not how I imagined it. It's so much better. My heart feels like it's about to beat out of my chest. My body feels warms all over and I don't ever want to let her go. I've been waiting for this moment for way to long. I feel like my body is coursing with energy. We stand there for what seems like forever. But forever couldn't be long enough. Too soon, she breaks away from me. I say the first thing that pops into my mind "Wow."  
"Tell me about it." She responds.  
She may have broken apart from the kiss, but she's still in my arms, a fact that makes me smile.  
I look at her. Her blonde hair, turned brown by the rain, her grey eyes are wide and alive. She just seems to be glowing. I notice that she's shivering, and so am I for that matter. I hug her tight, and she hugs me back. I kiss the top of her head and she shudders. I push her at arm's length. I tuck a lank strand of hair behind her head and say, "Let's get you into something dry." She smiles and nods. I led her, hand in hand into my room. I go into one of my drawers and pull out a pair of sweats and a hoodie. I grab a tee-shirt and some sweats for me and hand her the clothes. "I'll go into the bathroom." I tell her. Walking to the door, she smiles and kisses me swiftly before closing the door. I stand there in stunned silence for a moment. I couldn't believe my luck. As I turn to go to the bathroom to change I hear Annabeth quietly say, "I can't believe it. He likes me back." I can't help but smile.  
I change and go into the living room and sit on the couch. I put my face in my hands and take a deep breath, this may or may not be the night that the rest of my life changes. This is the night that will determine m destiny with her. After a minute or two Annabeth comes out of my room and sits next to me on the couch. She's pulled her hair up into a messy bun on top of her head and the hoodie and sweat pants are too big for her. I smile. "What?" She asks.  
"Nothing." I say. "You just make me smile."  
She doesn't say anything. She just smiles and sits next to me. She wraps her arms around my waist and rests her head on my shoulders. I wrap an arm over her shoulder and take one of her hands in mine.  
I notice that she she's still shivering so I grab the blanket off the back of the couch and drape it over her and me. She just snuggles closer to me and my heart jolts.  
"I'm sorry." She whispers.  
"For what?" I ask. What does she have to be sorry for?  
"For not being with you these past few weeks. That was a really shitty move on my part."  
"Yeah. It kind of was." I say, there's no reason in lying to her. "Why were you with that asshole anyways if he treats you like that?"  
"I may or may not have been hoping that it would have made you jealous. . ." She says in a quiet voice.  
"Wait." I say. "What?"  
She peers up at me. "You're not the only one who's had a crush for a while. I thought that maybe if you liked me back, you would get jealous seeing me with Luke. But you were so supportive and so happy for me, so I thought that you didn't like me. I don't even know why I stayed with him. I just- I'm just, sorry." She looks like she's about to cry.  
I squeeze her tight. "It's ok Annabeth."  
My mind is now racing. She's liked me for a while. And the only reason she was with Luke was to make me jealous. I mean it worked and everything, but she doesn't really like him. This means I might have a chance with this beautiful grey-eyed girl.  
"Percy?" She says.  
I look at her. "Did you mean it? What you said back at the restaurant? I mean, about being in love with me from the first time you saw me."  
"Yes." I say, it's all true, every bit of it.  
She smiles and says, "I love you too."  
I don't know how to respond. So I kiss her again. This one was different than the others, this is our first real kiss, the first one that both of us are expecting, and is done with sound mind, not driven by anything but passion. As the kiss deepens, she moves closer to me. She removes her hand from my waist and places it on my chest, her fingers dig in slightly and I inhale sharply. She breaks apart and smiles sheepishly. "God you're beautiful." I tell her. She blushes. I notice that she breathing a little heavily, I smile and kiss her cheek. She lays her head on my chest and then says, "Percy, why is your heart beating so fast?"  
I blush a little, but she can't see it. "It's because I'm with an amazingly beautiful girl."  
"You are so much better than Luke. I can't believe I was ever with that asshole."  
"Yeah." I say. "I can't either; let's hope he never sees me again, because if he does, I will beat the shit out of him."  
She doesn't say anything.  
We just lay there, her head on my chest, my arms around her shoulders. I think about the events of today. I can't believe, finally, after months of pinning after her, wishing she was mine, imaging her as mine. And come to find out she likes me. I don't think I've ever been this happy.  
I feel Annabeth reach into the pocket of my hoodie and she pulls out the little blue box containing the necklace I got for her. She opens it and takes it out. "Would you put it on for me please?"  
"Of course." I say. I take the little owl and clasp it around her neck.  
"Do you like it?" I ask her once she's put it on.  
"I love it Percy. Thank you." She kisses me and then lays her head back down on my chest. She then raises her wrist and slides own her sleeve to revel the bracelet Luke got her, she unclasps it and puts it into her pocket and says, "I'll give it back to him on Monday."  
She's quiet for a moment before asking, "So, what exactly were you doing at the restaurant?"  
"I don't even know. I just felt like I needed to go. I didn't even know what I was going to do once I got there. I just showed up." I tell her.  
"Oh. Well I guess it's a good thing that you did."  
"Yeah. I guess it was." I tell her. Then I look at the clock and realize that it's after one. "Isn't your dad going to be worried that you're not home yet?"  
She looks at the clock and then says. "I told him that I was spending the night at Thalia's. So I don't have to be home until later."  
I'm confused. "Why did you lie to your dad?"  
"I had too, if he would have found out that I was alone with a boy he would have killed me."  
"You're alone with me all the time." I tell her.  
"Yeah, well, that's different. My dad likes you."  
I smile smugly. "Your dad likes me?" I ask.  
"Yes. He loves you and he thinks we'd make a 'cute couple'."  
"We would make a cute couple." I inform her.  
"Yes. We would." She agrees.  
"Wait, so did your dad even ever meet Luke" I ask.  
"Yeah," She says. "like once. And he didn't like him very much."  
"Hmmm." I say. "I wonder why not."  
"Shut up." She says.  
I laugh and kiss the top of her head and she yawns.  
"I think you should go to bed." I tell her.  
"I think so too." She says. "Where do you want me to sleep?"  
I think about that for a second. "You can have my bed and I'll sleep on the couch." I tell her.  
"That's not fair." She says. "I'll sleep on the couch and you sleep in your bed."  
"I'm not making you sleep on the couch Annabeth."  
"I don't want you to have to sleep on the couch either. How about we both just sleep in your bed?"  
My heart jolts at the thought of being that close to her. I smile and raise my eyebrows at her. "Are you trying to get me into bed with you?"  
She laughs. "Yes, I guess I am."  
"Works for me. Come on gorgeous. Bed time."  
We get up and walk into my room, Annabeth plops down on my bed and looks at me.  
"What?" I ask her, thinking I have something on me.  
"I just can't believe I have such an amazing best friend. That's all. I just feel really lucky."  
"I'm the lucky one." I tell her.  
I reach up and yank on the chain to turn off the lights. I walk over to my bed and sit down. I can feel Annabeth's presence behind me, I reach for her hand and hold it tight. It feels electricity coursing through my body. I lay down and I feel her lie down next to me. She moves over to me and says, "You feel that too, right?"  
"Yeah. I do." I say.  
"Good." She says, and then she's kissing me.  
Quick word of advice. If you've never made out with the person you love in the dark, I would totally recommend it. Because it is without a doubt the most amazing, and totally satisfying feeling in the entire world.  
After a few minutes, Annabeth breaks away and says, "That is way better than I ever imagined."  
"I know." I say.  
After that, we just lay there in silence. I listen to the sound of her breathing.  
"Percy, tell me a story."  
"Ok," I say. "There once was a boy who was all alone, until one day he saw a girl. Now, this was no ordinary girl. She was the most beautiful girl in the entire world. She had pretty blonde hair and steely grey eyes. The instant the boy saw this girl, he fell in love. He wished to know about the girl, and luckily, the girl wanted to be friends with the boy. Soon, the boy and the girl were spending a lot of time together. One weekend they go away on a trip with a bunch of friends, the boy and the girl have fun together, then the girl does something confusing to the boy, she kisses him, the boy is confused because the girl was under the influence of mind altering chemicals."  
Annabeth laughs at this.  
"The boy wondered if the girl liked him. After the trip, the girl started hanging out with another boy. The boy felt upset because he liked the girl so much. But he wanted the girl to be happy so he didn't say anything about the other boy to the girl. Soon, the other boy asked the girl to be his girlfriend, she said yes. The boy felt angry, he wanted the girl to be with him, not the other boy. The boy had a plan, a few weeks before he had seen a necklace that would be perfect for the girl, so he was going to give it to her on her birthday. The boy had to work for the necklace though, he didn't mind. Because he knew it would make the girl smile. As the girl's birthday approached, the other boy started going out with the girl a lot. The boy didn't like the other boy. The boy had heard bad things about the other boy and was worried for the girl. He tried not to let the girl see it though. The boy had something special planned for the night before the girl's birthday, but the other boy ruined it. The girl went out with the other boy. This made the boy mad, so he left the house and walked around the city until the girl text him and let him know about her date. For some reason, the boy decided to go see the girl. He found the other boy yelling at the girl, and calling her terrible names. The other boy left the girl all alone in the rain. The boy went to comfort the girl. The girl got mad at the boy, and she thought the boy had been spying on the girl. The girl wanted to know why the boy cared so much. So the boy told her about how he loved her. The boy then kissed the girl like he had always wanted too; after the boy kissed the girl he gave her the necklace. Then, he did something stupid. He ran away from the girl. Once the boy got home, he realized how stupid he had been. Then the girl showed up at the boy's door and did something the boy had wanted her to do for a really long time, she kissed him, and the boy never felt happier. After that, the boy and the girl got to talking, and they both realized that they had the same feelings for each other. And they lived happily ever after. The end." I finish the story and Annabeth doesn't say anything. I thought she was asleep until she says.  
"That's a really nice story."  
"I know." I say, kissing the top of her head. "Now, go to sleep sweetheart."  
"Ok. I love you Percy."  
"I love you too." I tell her  
I listen to her breathing gradually get slower.  
I know she's asleep when she starts snoring faintly. A sound that makes me feel all warm inside.  
I lay there with Annabeth's head on my chest, thinking about how I'm the luckiest man in the world.  
I fall asleep with watching her eyes flutter, wondering what she's dreaming about.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's note: You guys, I'm so sorry I took so long to update. But I have it now and that's all that matters. So, yeah. Read and enjoy and stuff. Please leave a review. Thanks! Love you. :D**

**-Blay**

I wake up and roll over to my side and jump a little at the sight of Annabeth. Suddenly, memories from last night all come flooding back. I smile at her sleeping face. She looks so peaceful. I look at my alarm clock and see the time, it's almost eleven o'clock.  
I stretch and reach over for my phone, I have a message from Grover telling me that he's planning another trip to the beach for next weekend, I text him back and get out of bed, I didn't eat dinner last night, so I'm ravished. I kiss Annabeth on top of her head before wandering into the kitchen to make breakfast. I walk past the refrigerator and notice my mother has left a note for me, it reads, 'At work, be home at seven. Tell Annabeth I said hi. Love you.' Apparently my mother knows that Annabeth spent the night, I didn't hear her come in so I don't know what time she got home. I take the note, put it in my pocket, and start making breakfast. I remember what Annabeth said about being a vegan, no milk, no eggs, no cheese, and no meat. I keep that in mind as I breakfast. My plan last night was to surprise Annabeth at her house with her present and a cupcake I would have made, since that didn't really work out, I decide to make her birthday breakfast instead. The other day while online I found a recipe for vegan blueberry pancakes, so I start making those. I settle into the easy routine of cooking, which for some odd reason, I find therapeutic.  
After the mix has been made and is cooking, I start to set the table. By the time that's done with, the pancakes are done. I grab a plate and put them on it and grab some juice from the fridge. I set it all out and turn on the TV to the alternative music channel, which is her favorite. Rather than wait for her to wake up and risk her breakfast getting cold, I go to wake her up. I walk into my room and see her still sleeping. I smile at her. She just looks so serene.  
I study her sleeping face, committing every detail to memory. The way her eyes flutter, the shape of her mouth slightly parted. The sound of her delicate snoring. After I have everything saved in my mind, I go to wake her up. I get on my knees and touch her shoulder delicately, "Annabeth. You need to get up."  
No response, so I shake her shoulder and little and say, "Annabeth, you need to wake up."  
Her eyes open a fraction of an inch, and then she squeezes them shut again and says groggily, "Annabeth isn't here, please leave a message." She then rolls over and buries her face into my pillow.  
I smile a little at her, and then think of a way to get, "I guess I'll just have to tell that to your dad."  
She shoots straight up in the air and her eyes get wide, "What?!" She yells.  
"Just kidding. But, now that you're up, I have something special for you."  
"So not cool." She mumbles.  
"It worked though, didn't it?" I say.  
She just sticks her tongue out in retaliation.  
"Come on, I have something to show you." I tell her.  
She rolls her eyes, but gets out of my bed. I stand up and hug her. "Good morning." I tell her. She chuckles a little and returns my hug. "Good morning to you too." We break apart and I study her face. After a few seconds of that she asks in a quiet voice, "What?"  
"Just marveling at your beauty." I tell her. She blushes deeply and looks down. I kiss the top of her head. "Come on."  
She obliges, I let her go in front of me, and then put my hands in front of her eyes."Percy." She protests slightly.  
"What?" I ask, "It's a surprise."  
She lets out a pseudo exasperated sigh and allows me to lead her into the kitchen.  
Once we're in the kitchen I say, "Ta-da." And lift my hands off of her eyes. She walks over to the table and looks at the food. "Their vegan." I say quickly. She turns around, her eyes wide and hugs me again. "Thank you Percy." Her voice sounds a little thick, like she's trying not to cry, something I find a little strange, but don't dwell on too much. "It's no problem. Happy birthday Annabeth."  
She looks up at me and smiles. She turns back to the table and is about to sit down when I say, "I got it." And pull her chair out for her. She laughs, but accepts the seat. I sit down at the seat opposite to her and watch her for a moment. She gets a pancake from the plate and takes a bite. I wait for her reaction; apparently, their good because she takes another bite. I smile and get one for myself. I take a bite, they do taste good. We eat in silence for a few minutes before Annabeth pushes her plate away and clears her throat. She looks like she's about to say something, but then her phone goes off. She pulls it out of her, (mine really), hoodie and looks at it. A few seconds later her face contorts in anger and she throws her phone on the table and crosses her arms across her chest. "What is it?" I ask her, pushing away my plate as well.  
"That was Luke." She spits out.  
I instantly feel anger well it up in my chest. "What did that asshole want?" I spit back.  
"He wanted to meet up to talk about last night." She says.  
I actually snort.  
"Yeah. I know right?" She then plants her elbows on the table and places her head in her hands.  
I get up walk over to her. I place my arms around her. She sinks into me a little bit and lets out a breath.  
"It's ok Annabeth." I tell her.  
She reaches up and touches my arm.  
"You're amazing, you know that?" I tell her. It really just seems like the right thing to say, I can tell that she's hurting right now, and that is in turn making me hurt for her.  
She looks up at me and I lean down to kiss her forehead.  
"Thank you Percy, for everything." She tells me, her voice full of gratitude.  
"It's no problem. You deserve every bit of it."  
We remain like that for a few moments before I break away. "So, is there anything special you want to do today?" I ask her.  
She considers for a moment before saying, "You know, even though I've been living in New York for the past few months, I still haven't done a lot of the touristy stuff."  
I smile at her. "Tourist attractions it is. Where would you like to go first?"  
She considers for a moment before asking, "Where's the closet museum to here?"  
I tell her and she says, "Ok. I guess we're going there."  
I clean up the remnants of breakfast while Annabeth hops into the shower. She comes back out in yesterday's clothes, which have had a chance to dry, but she's still wearing my hoodie. I smile at that. She comes to help me with the dishes, even thought I protest. We just stand there in a contented silence, side by side. And suddenly I can see Annabeth and me standing in this exact same spot, somewhere in the future. A married couple. I try and dispel the image from my head and focus at the task on hand, but for some reason, it won't leave me. Then, I realize there was something I forgot to do, although Annabeth did indeed show up at my house yesterday, and she spent the night, and now both of our feelings are out on the table, I never really asked her to be my girlfriend. It was just somewhat assumed.  
Now, I know this may seem kind of weird, or cheesy, but I really want to make this special for her, especially after the way Luke had treated her.  
Ugh, even just thinking his name sends anger boiling into my chest. I feel the need to voice some of the pent up frustration I've held towards him for so long.  
"Luke better hope that I never lay eyes on him again, because if I do, he's a dead man."  
Annabeth, almost as if though she's trying to say it under her breath for me not to be able to hear, says, "You don't even know the half of it."  
But of course, I do hear what she says and I turn towards her expectantly. "Is there something you're not telling me?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.  
"No, no." She says, "I just-I'm just-ugh!" She throws the towel down and places her head back into her hands.  
"Annabeth, you are a terrible lair. Now, tell me what's bothering you." I ask turning towards her again.  
She remains silent for a moment.  
"You know." I say. "You remaining silent is making me think that whatever you're not telling me is bad, really bad."  
She still remains silent.  
I take a step closer to her, "Annabeth. . . ?"  
She peaks at me from underneath her unbelievably long eye lashes.  
Suddenly, I get a horrible idea in my head of why she would be remaining silent.  
"Wait, he didn't put his hands on you, did he?"  
Her silence screams volumes.  
I suddenly become very rigid.  
"Where." I say, in the calmest voice I can manage, but it still comes out a demand and not the question that I intended.  
She has still yet to say a word, but I can see tears forming in her eyes.  
I set the plate I was washing down and wipe my hands on my jeans, after they're somewhat dry I place my hands on either side of her arms.  
"Annabeth, please talk to me."  
But she doesn't, she just falls into me, starting to cry in earnest now, confirming my worst fears.  
"Oh no." I say, wrapping my arms protectively around her.  
She just cries as I hold her. The anger in my chest is so overwhelming that I almost can't stand it, but I do, for her. All I know is that now. Luke is going to pay. I'm going to make him pay for all the suffering that he caused Annabeth.  
I try and wrap my head around how somebody could hurt somebody as sweet as Annabeth. I really don't see any reason for it.  
I allow her to cry herself out, which doesn't take too long. After she's done, I tuck my finger underneath her chin and tilt it up so she can look at me. I kiss her forehead and say, "Come on, let's go to the museum."  
She smiles a tiny bit and I hug her again, because it just seems like the right thing to do.  
While Annabeth is in the shower, I step out of the apartment for a moment, just long enough so that I can lose my cool. I let out a scream of frustration and anger. After that, I'm good and I walk back into the apartment to wait for her. It doesn't take her long, she walks out of the bathroom, fully dressed, wet hair pulled into a bun on the top of her head.  
"You ready?" She asks me.  
"Yes ma'am." I respond, walking over to her so I can take her hand.  
She smiles when I do. "Just let me get my phone." I tell her.  
She doesn't let go of my hand, so we walk together back into my room to get it. I spot my wallet and grab it as well, after I have it, we're off.  
The museum isn't really in walking distance, so I hail a cab. Once we're in, Annabeth and I don't do much talking, but we sit hand in hand. I stare out the window as we ride.  
Now, I've lived in New York my whole life. But everything just seemed different today. Like I was seeing it through a new light. I know it sounds stupid, but being with her changed my perspective.  
We arrive at the museum and I ask Annabeth where she wants to see. She says she doesn't care, so we just wonder around, hand in hand, for hours. It's one of the better moments of my life. I just love watching her, the way her eyes light up in excitement whenever she sees something interesting. She told me once that there was nothing more satisfying to her than learning something new.  
After we've seen practically everything in the museum we decide to get something to eat, it's already around five.  
"What time does your dad expect you to be back?" I ask her.  
"Oh yeah, I forgot about him. I suppose before seven." She says.  
I frown slightly.  
"That only means two hours left with you." I say.  
She blushes slightly. "I'm not that special you know."  
"You are to me." I say in a quiet voice. "In fact, why don't we just go ahead and make it official. Annabeth Chase, would you do me the unbelievable honor of becoming my girlfriend?"  
"Of course Percy." She says with a breathtaking smile,  
I feel like I've been waiting my entire life for her to say those words. So, I lean in to kiss her. I get all the symptoms from before, racing heart, fuzzy mind, that electric current passing between the two of us, but there's something different about it now, something making it more special, like knowing that fact that she's finally mine has somehow intensified everything.  
I break apart, mainly because I need to breathe, and take her hand. We start walking, to nowhere in particular.  
"Can we stop by Thalia's? I had actually made plans to stop by her apartment after the date. I think she might be a little worried."  
"No problem." I say. So we head out towards Thalia's. She's not to terribly far. We don't speak. But its ok, all I need is the pressure of her hand on mine.  
We reach Thalia's building and walk up to the third floor where she lives. We walk down to the end of the hallway, before Annabeth knocks; I ask if she wants Thalia to know that we're dating. She says that she doesn't mind. I smile at her and she knocks on the door. A few seconds later Thalia opens the door.  
Thalia sees Annabeth and rushes forward to hug her. "Ugh, you had me worried. Why didn't you call?" Thalia asks, gesturing for me and Annabeth to come in. We walk over to her couch and see a kid about 14 years old sitting there watching T.V. I raise my eyebrows at Thalia.  
"Oh. That's my cousin Nico." She then turns to him, "Nico, budge up."  
"But my shows not over!" He protests.  
"Then go watch it in my room." She tells him.  
He stares at the screen for a few seconds longer before hopping up and running towards the hallway leading away from the living room.  
"What's Nico doing here?" Annabeth asks.  
"Oh, his mom is in California on business, so we're watching him until she gets back. Now, tell me why you didn't call me last night!"  
Annabeth looks at her sheepishly, "I got kind of, caught up." She says, glancing in my direction.  
Thalia notices, then she notices how close Annabeth is sitting to me.  
"Wait a second. Don't tell me you were with this butt face all night!"  
"I am not a butt face." I say, but Annabeth just laughs. And says, "No, I was not with him all night. Just the more enjoyable part of it."  
"Oh my God, you guys totally did it didn't you?" Thalia accuses.  
I actually choke, and Annabeth bursts out laughing. "No," she says. "We did not do it. He rescued me after my fiasco with Luke."  
I stiffen at the sound of his name.  
"Oh," Thalia exclaims. "Details."  
Annabeth then launches into the whole story of what happened last night, minus the me spying on her part.  
Afterwards, Thalia is silent for a moment before saying, "Well, it's about damn time! I thought you two would never realize that you were totally perfect each other. Heh, looks like Grover and Charlie owe me 20 bucks each."  
I laugh, and so does Annabeth.  
"Well congrats." Thalia says.

Annabeth, Thalia, and I spend the next couple of hours hanging out. I missed this part of our friendship, that part that Luke stole from us. After a while, Annabeth's phone goes off and she checks it. She frowns slightly and says, "Looks like that's my dad. He's downstairs."  
My heart sinks, I've been dreading this moment, I feel like the instant she leaves, I'll wake up and discover that this entire thing was just a dream. I don't want to wake up, not ever.  
As I walk Annabeth down the hall, with Thalia trailing a little behind to give us a little privacy, she talks to me in a low voice. "This has been without a doubt the best birthday I've ever had. And it's all thanks to you. I don't know how I'll ever be able to repay you." She says, her fingers messing with the little owl I gave her.  
"You've done enough." I say. "Just by saying yes."  
She smiles and kisses me on the cheek. It's my turn to blush and Annabeth laughs softly at me when she sees it.  
Once we're in the lobby I spot Mr. Chase standing there. Once he sees Annabeth her smiles at her. As we walk closer her says, "Happy birthday sweetheart." And kisses her on the cheek. "Hello Percy. Hello Thalia." He calls.  
"Hello Mr. Chase." Thalia and I call back in perfect unison.  
We all, including Mr. Chase, laugh.  
"Come on, Annabeth." He says, "We have dinner waiting for you at home."  
Annabeth come forward to hg first Thalia, then me. "I love you" She whispers in my ear. "I love you too." I whisper back.  
She breaks away and goes back to her dad. "Bye you guys, see you at school." And with that, she leaves. Leaving me, elated and heartbroken at the same time.  
"Come on Lover Boy. Let's get you home." Thalia says playfully.

Once I'm home again, I see my mother sitting at the table. "Long time no see." She calls out playfully. I smile, walk forward, and hug her.  
"So." She says after I break away from the hug and sit down across from her. "You and Annabeth huh?"  
I bush a little and say, "Yeah. I know."  
"I'm happy for you son. I haven't seen you this happy since before you father, disappeared."  
We never say the word dead, death, or die when talking about my father.  
Ever

"I know." I say. "She just makes me happy."  
"And that makes me happy. But next time you have someone spend the night. Especially a girl please let me know beforehand."  
I blush a little again and say, "Sorry, I didn't really know she was going to until she did."  
My mother just nods and smiles at me. "Ok. Well, it's late and I'm tired. I'm going to bed. I love you Percy." She says. She then gets up and walks over to me and plants a kiss on top of my head.  
"I love you too Mom." I say.  
As I sit there, I reply the day in my head over and over again.  
I don't stop until I'm asleep.


	7. Chapter 7

Author's Note: Ok you guise, I'm so sorry it took me so long to update. I've just been so busy. Tell me what you sweet babies think! Ta-Ta!

-Blay

* * *

Monday couldn't come fast enough, because in knew that when Monday came, I would get to see Annabeth again. Of course we spent the entire weekend texting each other, but it just wasn't the same as spending time with her.  
Once Monday does come, I feel myself strangely excited. I mean, yeah, I like school and everything, but I'm never genuinely excited like I am today. Today is the day when everybody gets to know that I won, Annabeth finally picked me.  
While I'm on the way to school Annabeth texts me and asks if I'll wait for at the doors, I happily oblige, so once I get there, I stand at the doors. I find myself unintentionally looking for Luke. I want so badly to give him a piece of my mind. I'm so distracted thinking about what I would say to Luke, I almost don't notice Annabeth walk up to me.  
She smiles and says, "Hey."  
I return the greeting and hug her. Suddenly, I am overwhelmed by that intoxicating scent that caught my attention the first time I ever saw her. God she smells good.  
She laughs and says, "Uh thanks. It's patchouli."  
Oh God, I said that out loud. She laughs again at my blush, and then takes my hand.  
"Come on." She says pulling me into the door.  
We walk into the school building hand and hand.  
For some reason I feel like all eyes are on us, even though the logical part of my brain is telling me that they aren't. I find myself looking for Luke again. A strange mix of wanting to find him, so I can give him what he deserves, and not wanting to find him for Annabeth's sake.  
I feel like every head has turned to us, eyes drilling holes into us. I try and focus on the pressure of Annabeth's hand on mine. It works. I soon forget everyone else in the crowded hallways.  
I spot Grover towards the end of the main hallway, a few seconds later he spots me, then Annabeth, then our intertwined hands. I can see his eyes get wide and he starts to jog towards us. I laugh.  
He reaches us in a few seconds and stops a moment to catch his breath before practically shouting, "Well it's about damn time!"  
"Shut up." I say, not really serious. On the inside I feel unbelievably jubilant.  
"Wait until everyone else finds out. Awe man, I owe Thalia 20 bucks" Grover whines.  
"At least it's for a good cause." Annabeth says.  
"If you say so." He responds. "You guys up to another trip Montauk this weekend?"  
"Totally." Annabeth responds.  
I nod in agreement.  
"Cool." Grover says. "I gotta go meet up with Juniper. Catch you later." And with that, he runs off.  
"Come on." She says, pulling my hand, "We have to get to history."  
I allow her to pull me off towards the history hall.  
She begins to speak, "I think a trip to the beach would be great. Don't you think? I mean, the last time was just so much fun. I've been looking forward to another trip since the last one."  
One thing you should know about Annabeth, she rambles when she's nervous.  
I squeeze her hand gently, letting he know that I'm here. She stops talking and looks at me gratefully.  
I look into her eyes and smile at her. "It's ok." I tell her. I know that she must be even more nervous about this whole Luke thing than I am.  
She smiles back at me and I'm distracted. Pulled into the gravity that is her smile.  
I'm rudely awakened from it when I'm slammed into hard from the side. I manage to stay upright, but my hand is ripped from Annabeth's.  
I look around wildly, slightly disorientated. Finally my eyes focus on Luke and Annabeth standing in the hallway. It's deadly silent No one is moving. No one is breathing. You could hear a pin drop.  
"You thought I wouldn't find out?" Luke asks in a voice that's deadly calm. I try to move, to reach for Annabeth, to put my arm around her and whisk her away from the situation that is unfolding.  
She remains silent.  
"You know, I felt for you Friday night. So I came back to get you, to take you home. Guess what I saw? I saw you whoring around with this little bitchsquealer." He says pointing towards me.  
"I gave you so much. And this is how you repay me? By being a slut? I took your pathetic ass under my wig. Tried to save you from those losers and you, you go and fuck around with one of them behind my back? And when I try and talk to you about it, you ignore me. I was going to forgive you, I mean we all make mistakes. But no. you had to be a stubborn little bitch and ignore me. Dumb whore. " He says. He looks around at everyone standing in the hallway. "You hear that everyone? Annabeth Chase is a whore! Nothing more than another stupid slut."  
They're starring each other down, neither looking away nor blinking.  
"Percy is twice the man you are. And I am not a whore." She says calmly.  
Luke, then without warning slaps her smartly across the face.  
You can hear everyone standing in the hallway let out a sharp breath.  
Annabeth doesn't move her eyes wide with disbelief. I can see the blood beginning to trickle out of her nose, and that's when I can move.  
I rush Luke, taking him by surprise and push him up against a locker by his shirt collar.  
"Don't you dare lay your filthy hands on her, you pig. You don't deserve her! You never did!" And with that, I punch him directly in the face.  
I hear and feel a sickening crack that alerts me that I've broken his nose.  
"You little fucker. Don't tell me what I can and cannot do." He says, and punches me in the face.  
The pain is sharp and instant. That's the last straw. I unleash all the anger I've towards him for the past few months on him. I feel like I'm in a trance. I start to punch everywhere I can.  
On his face, on his chest, in his stomach everywhere.  
Of course, he's fighting back. But I don't feel anything. I'm invincible.  
I can faintly hear Annabeth screaming for me to stop. But I ignore her; doesn't she know that I'm doing this for her? I'm doing this so Luke can know what it's like to be beat on. To feel pain at the hands of another. I just keep on punching. Punching anywhere and everywhere as hard as I can. This bastard deserves every bit of it.  
Finally, I'm pulled off from on top of Luke (I hadn't realized that I was even on the ground), by a teacher.  
I'm out of the trance now. I look around and see the expression on everybody's face. Some range from shock, to delight. I see Annabeth's face I the crowd. A bruise already forming on her face and the blood still trickling from her nose. Speaking of blood, I realize that I'm covered in it. Not mine, but Luke's.  
The teacher, whose name I do not know, grabs both Luke and me by the elbow and leads us to the office. I look over my shoulder as I'm taken away and see Annabeth's terrified face.

The door slams and I flinch.  
This isn't my first time in the principal's office, but it's my first time from fighting someone.  
Luke is sitting in the chair opposite from me, holding a tissue to his face, which happens to be bluer then flesh toned. His has a cut in his eyebrow, his lip is split open, he has a black eye, and his nose is broken. All because of me.  
"So boys. Would you care to tell me why you fighting in my fine hallway?" Principal Zeus asks.  
Before I have a chance to say anything, Luke, the coward that he is says, "Percy just jumped me."  
"Bullshit!" I say standing up.  
"Percy." Principal Zeus warns.  
"Sir," I say turning towards him. "I didn't just 'jump' him. He hit Annabeth. So it hit him."  
"Is this true Luke?" Principal Zeus asks.  
"Yes, but-"  
"No 'buts'." He says. "You know the school has a policy about fighting. Both of you are suspended until Wednesday. You're parents will be notified. You are dismissed."  
The teacher that broke up the fight escorts us out of the school building. Once out of the building Luke looks at me and says, "You're dead, Jackson." And walks off. I suppose I should be afraid, but I'm not. I feel strangely triumphant. It's good to know that he finally got what he deserves.

Once home, I'm not entirely sure what to do. So I go back to sleep for a little bit. Then when I wake up I clean the house for my mom. After all of that's done, I watch TV, but there's nothing on. So I decide to go to work. Might as well.  
Of course when I get there Dittie is surprised to see me.  
"Child. What happened to your face?" She asks.  
I look in the mirror she has on the wall the shop. I have several bruises a cut from Luke's stupid state championship ring above my eyebrow.  
"I may or may not have gotten into a fight defending Annabeth's honor." I tell her with a grin.  
She smiles, "Did you win?"  
"Yes ma'am." I tell her.  
"Excellent." She responds with. "Now, get to work."  
And I do. I polish and clean and file until my fingers hurt.  
Around the time school gets out I tell Dittie that I'm going home. She smiles and says ok and that she's expecting me to work a full shift tomorrow.  
Once I get home I've barely sat on the couch before the doorbell rings. I get up warily to answer.  
I open the door and the person standing there throws their arms around me.  
Annabeth.  
"Percy, are you ok?" she asks, pulling away and looking me over.  
Her face looks about ten times worse than it did this morning. It's all swollen and bruised.  
"Yes. I'm fine. How are you?" I ask touch her face softly.  
"Fine fine." She says. Then she's smacks me on the shoulder. "You idiot! You could have gotten yourself expelled!"  
"I know." I say simply. "But he deserved it. He hit you; he called you a whore in front of the entire school. I couldn't just stand there and do nothing."  
She hugs me again.  
We hang out for a little bit. Annabeth brought me my homework and helps me with it. After she leaves my mom comes home and has me explain what happened.  
After I tell her the story she says, "Now, I know that as a mother, I should discipline you. But I have to say, I'm so proud of you." She hugs me and we carry with dinner as if it never happened.


	8. Chapter 8

Ok guys, so my name is Nena and I was one of Blays best friends. I'm writing because Blay cannot anymore. A few months ago Blay was diagnosed with lung cancer. She put up a long, hard battle, but we lost her recently. We are all heartbroken. She was such a beautiful girl who loved life. She also loved to write. The only thing that kept her going so long was writing. Her parents gave her laptop to me, on it were all of her stories for you guys, (which she talked about constantly). Not all of them are complete though. I will update what she has written for you guys though. Thank you for all the kind words you gave her. You have no idea how much it meant to her. You really are amazing.


End file.
